Seidl will only attend “a few races” in new role as Sauber CEO

Andreas Seidl, the new CEO of the Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team’s operating company Sauber, will only have a limited trackside presence this season.

The 47-year-old was an ever-present face in the F1 paddock in his previous role as team principal at McLaren from 2019 to the end of last year. But in his new role he will not be required to be at all the grands prix and he has set up a new leadership structure that means Alfa Romeo will be without a team principal.

“F1 is the Sauber Group’s core focus, so of course I will be involved and want to contribute with my experience,” he said.

“But I want my leadership team to run things on a daily basis. They are a strong group of people, whom I trust, and I will empower them and give them everything they need.

“I will attend a few races, but the foundations of success in F1 are laid at the factory and that’s where my immediate focus will be.”

Sauber is based at Hinwil in Switzerland, and in addition to its own F1 team the company makes its high-tech facilities – such as the wind tunnel and 3D printing machines – available for others across automotive and beyond to use. There are also Sauber teams in Esports and karting.

“The [leadership] structure we’ve put in place plays to the strengths of the individuals involved and it allows me, as CEO, to focus on the strategic future of the Sauber Group and the team,” Seidl said.

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“The strong leadership team, trackside and at headquarters, is designed for efficiency and to divide the tasks at hand among different individuals with clear responsibilities.”

Following the departure of Frederic Vasseur as team principal, Alessandro Alunni Bravi has taken up the new role of team representative, which Seidl described as “the most significant evolution from last year” at the team.

“He’ll continue to oversee the team’s commercial and legal activities as managing director, as he did in the past, and in addition he’ll now be the public face of the team in the role of team representative,” Seidl explained. “Together with head of track engineering and operations Xevi Pujolar, and sporting director Beat Zehnder, he will form a strong leadership team trackside.”

Seidl said he expects to see further improvement at the team which finished sixth in the 2022 championship, equalling its best result from the last 10 years.

“We have seen in 2022, at the start of a new regulations cycle, that this team can deliver a strong car and make progress up the grid,” he said. “The key for us is to continue in this direction in the coming months and years.

“What I want to see is progress in every area of the team, be that at the factory or trackside. Having seen and recently experienced how the team has prepared for this coming season under the leadership of our Technical Director, Jan Monchaux, and Operations Director, Axel Kruse, I am very optimistic we will achieve this as a team.”

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